Closer Look at 17" LCD Monitor Features. Part VI. Page 3

We continue our detailed roundups of 17" flat-panel monitors. Today we will look at 16 solutions from LG, Samsung, Sony, Viewsonic, Mitsubishi, NEC, and a few others. For the first time in our lab we are proud to introduce to you a monitor from ASUS.

Fujitsu-Siemens ScaleoView T17-1

The exterior of this monitor makes me recall models of four or five years ago: today manufacturers usually pride themselves upon a smallest width of the bezel around the screen while here this bezel is a good three centimeters wide. Frankly speaking, the ScaleoView T17-2 model that came to replace the T17-1 has a more up-to-date design, but we haven’t yet got a sample of it for our tests.

Otherwise the design is simple: silver-colored plastic without any decorations.

Despite the wide screen bezel, you can’t call the T17-1 bulky just because its case is no thicker than cases of other monitors. The base permits to adjust the tilt of the screen. The height can’t be controlled; the portrait mode is unavailable. The monitor supports standard VESA 75mm mounts.

The T17-1 has one analog input only. There is a place for a DVI-D connector on the case – it is even labeled – but the connector is not installed. There is also a line audio input for the integrated speakers and a power connector (the power adapter is external).

The menu is simple but user-friendly and offers the usual settings of an inexpensive monitor: brightness, contrast, three color temperatures, auto-adjustment and the position of the onscreen menu.

The monitor is controlled with four buttons, three of which do double duty when outside the menu: auto-adjustment (this function is invoked by this button only – it is missing in the onscreen menu), brightness adjustment, and muting the integrated speakers (you have to go into the menu to adjust their volume rather than muting them). These functions are all activated after about two seconds of your pressing down on a button. I don’t quite get the point of that since the buttons are not touch-sensitive and cannot be pressed accidentally.